Golden Spike aims to launch private citizens on round-trip visits to the moon starting in 2020 for a fee of $1.5 billion per flight. The firm, named after the final spike that joined the rails of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, is pitching these lunar voyages to corporations, countries without their own space programs, and even wealthy individuals.

Lovell, who commanded the near-disastrousApollo 13 missionin 1970, has signed on as a member of Golden Spike's board of advisors, and has already consulted on possible designs for Golden Spike's crew module and other issues.

"Finally there’s a company, Golden Spike, that plans a purely commercial approach to returning to the moon"Lovellsaid in a statement. "I am pleased to be part of this enthusiastic group of engineers and scientists working together with the aerospace industry to design and build cost effective lunar flights."